The corruption of the self-help movement

Before the baby boomers, there wasn’t a self-help movement, there was only the “help-yourself” movement.

So is the self-help industry a bad thing? Not all of it for sure, but much of it is. The original intent of the movement was to get people to realize that they had the power, all within themselves, to change their results. It was meant to give them the confidence to go out and work and use their talents to create success, happiness and prosperity. It was a message meant to empower people to become all that they had the potential to be. That message of empowerment is important and necessary and powerful. However, that message has sadly been twisted and corrupted and in many cases, lost. We turned empowerment into entitlement.

Rely on your brain and brawn
It might have been our laziness that messed it up, or our ever-declining work ethic, or our sliding scale of morality, or the gray area of integrity that runs rampant among workers, corporations, Wall Street and government. Add to that our greed and unhealthy desire for more, more, more. Maybe it’s our demand for more sensationalism via our insatiable need to be entertained. Or our fascination with the shallow, inane and ridiculous. But whatever happened, it corrupted the entire self-help movement. Somehow the emphasis shifted from “self” to “help.”

What’s the solution? Stop thinking about help and turn back toward yourself. Stop blaming others. Stop looking to others to save you. Don’t be a follower of the ideas of any sole individual, group, party or movement. Read, study, think and work. Rely on your brain and your brawn to create the life you want.